Regional Australia

Vast and diverse

Regional Australia, encompassing all areas outside the major capital cities, is both vast and diverse. It’s a special place that has helped shape the nation’s identity, culture and economic prosperity. Its landscapes and resources provide many of the basics of Australian life – food, clean water, energy, building materials, entertainment and places for recreation. Beyond its practical and economic impact, regional Australia holds deep historical and cultural significance, offering a profound connection to the land for First Nations peoples and fostering a strong sense of pride and belonging within local communities. 

Regional life and history 

The collection of the National Film and Sound Archive offers a fascinating journey through life and landmark events from Australia’s inland and coastal towns, regional cities and remote communities spanning the last 120 years. These snapshots provide a window into past worlds, capturing moments such as a steam train travelling between Junee and Cootamundra in New South Wales, and a short film documenting survival and resilience in the aftermath of Darwin's devastating Cyclone Tracy. You’ll also find entries about the dangers of local wildlife, like an ATV 10 news program warning about crocodiles in popular swimming spots. And there are stories from the sporting field like that of First Nations tennis champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who rose from the small NSW town of Barellan to international fame. 

Our collection is rich with scenes showcasing the vibrant histories of regional fashion, cuisine and culture. First Nations women from Utopia Station near Alice Springs demonstrate the art of painting and dyeing batik, sharing how local plants and animals inspire intricate designs. Heading further southeast to Newcastle, you’ll find a delightful segment on the bold and memorable hairstyles from the 1970s. A silent film from the 1920s takes us aboard a paddle steamer on the Murray River, offering a glimpse into the era’s fashion, from flapper dresses to cloche hats and parasols – a more relaxed and carefree style that followed the First World War. 

Travelogue of Eastern States opens with views of a sparsely populated Canberra in the 1920s, a sharp contrast to busier scenes around Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Digitised from the original tinted 35mm nitrate reel, we see vibrantly coloured moving images of New South Wales' Illawarra coastline from the tops of Bulli and the wonders of the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves.

Many items also capture how the topography and architecture of certain regions have changed – or stayed remarkably the same. In our Ballarat Time Capsule, the best surviving silent-era documentary of the city immerses viewers in a bustling provincial hub. Familiar landmarks like Blackhill Lookout offer a westward view down MacArthur Street towards Lake Wendouree, alongside electric trams that served the city from 1905 to 1971. 

Fast forward to 1951, and you’ll find North to the Sun, which profiles Cairns in tropical Far North Queensland. Narrated by a visiting tourist, this film doubles as an educational piece summarising Cairns' history, and an invitation to Australia’s tropics, showcasing the region as an inviting place for both leisure and livelihood. Like so many others in the collection, these pieces show how film uniquely captures the people, landscapes, objects and events that were significant – and in some cases stylish – in Australia’s regional history. 

Among the various other examples to explore is Life in Australia, a series of montage pieces from the 1960s that feature regional cities like Wagga Wagga, Geraldton, Mt Gambier and Launceston. These films were made during the dying years of the 'White Australia policy', and they present carefully selected aspects of the Australian experience to attract (mostly British) migrants. First Nations Australians are notably absent, only a couple of years before the landmark 1967 referendum. 

Working the land 

Australia's regional areas have long sustained the nation’s agricultural, energy and manufacturing needs, driving both the domestic and export markets. In the regions, Australians cultivate vast crops, raise livestock and mine resources, giving us food, textiles, energy and countless other commodities. 

The diversity of agricultural life across Australia encompasses beekeeping in Bega, fruit picking in the Goulburn Valley, sugarcane cutting in Queensland and peanut harvesting near Kingaroy. Vintage radio programs like the Agricultural Magazine of the Air (1930s–1950s) introduced listeners to innovative farming techniques. The program even sent Australian farmers to the US and collaborated with the BBC in the UK to exchange progressive agricultural ideas.

Explore more rural and regional radio

The Yugal Cattle Company was the first Indigenous-owned cattle station in the Northern Territory. This short documentary delves into the station's history, the aspirations of the local First Nations workers, and the challenges they encountered during a lengthy land rights battle. 

The sheep industry was once the backbone of Australia’s economy – Australia's prosperity, so it was said, ‘rode on the sheep's back’. A Farmer’s Life in Drought (1968) acknowledges the extreme hardships of farming and documents the devastating impacts of drought on a farmer's flock and livelihood.

Our earliest glimpse into this agricultural world is captured in a film shot in 1899 with a Lumière Cinematographe in rural Queensland, showing a horse-drawn Buckeye reaper harvesting wheat. Labourers stack sheaves while horses work alongside them, illustrating the physically demanding life of early agriculture (for both humans and animals) and foreshadowing the many technological advances to come. 

Beyond farming, regional Australia has given rise to other industries such as fishing, forestry, mining, energy and manufacturing.  

In The Pearlers (1949), you can step into the world of pearl divers off Broome, Western Australia, where First Nations Australians, Malay and Chinese crew members work together, adding a multicultural dimension to Broome’s storied pearling industry.  

See how the Ford assembly line operated in Geelong. The Snowy Hydro Scheme was the nation’s largest engineering project, running from 1949 to 1974 and employing over 100,000 workers, many of whom were migrants and refugees. The scheme allowed them to rebuild their lives and find purpose after the turmoil of post-Second World War Europe. 

Timber Town (1972) takes us to Karri, a town in southwest WA dependent on timber. The film dives into the daily lives of workers and their surroundings, depicting tree-felling practices, reforestation methods and controlled burning techniques of the time. Like many other examples, this film takes us back to a different era of working life and invites us to explore how these regional industries have shaped Australia’s history and development. 

Explore more working life in regional and remote Australia

Arts and culture 

The landscapes of rural, remote, and regional Australia have profoundly shaped the nation's audiovisual culture, serving many of our iconic films, television shows, and music. Many rural towns and regions, such as Winton (QLD), Braidwood (NSW) and Broken Hill (NSW), have become film production hubs, with Broken Hill boasting a rich history of cinematic productions. Australian TV dramas like McLeod’s Daughters (set near Kingsford, South Australia), Blue Heelers (set in the fictional country town of Mount Thomas) and The Flying Doctors (filmed in Minyip, Victoria) bring the unique character of the outback and bush towns to life on screen, grounding each series in distinctly Australian landscapes. 

In these productions, the landscape offers more than just a scenic backdrop or pictorialism; it acts as a living, breathing part of the story, reflecting themes of identity, resilience and belonging. For example, the rugged terrains of the Northern Territory feature prominently in Australia (2008) and Crocodile Dundee (1986), where sweeping views of the outback are as integral to the films as their characters, presenting the wild beauty that captivated audiences globally. Likewise, the vast desert-scapes in the First Nations films and series Mystery Road add layers of drama and tension, creating a sense of isolation central to the show’s suspenseful atmosphere. 

Explore more about frontier westerns

Regional Australia has given us recurring archetypes that have come to embody national identity post-colonisation: the stoic bush woman in The Drover’s Wife (2021); the rugged stockman in The Man from Snowy River (1982); the shearer in Sunday Too Far Away (1975); the iconic bushranger of Ned Kelly films; and the laconic miner in Red Dog (2011). And in comedic films like The Dish (2000), which provides an account of how the Parkes Observatory in New South Wales relayed via live television the first steps on the moon, we find the familiar Aussie battler archetype and a landscape that plays an essential role in connecting the story to Australia’s rural heart. 

Explore more outback on screen

Beyond film and television, our collection includes musical tributes to these landscapes, communicating the spirit of Australia through sound. Peter Sculthorpe’s intricate compositions are a response to the sounds of nature, while pop songs like 'Sounds of Then' by GANGgajang immortalise regional experiences through lyrics that can resonate with listeners worldwide: 'Out on the patio we'd sit, and the humidity we'd breathe, we'd watch the lightning crack over canefields'. 

Tracing back to the 1930s, we find nostalgic anthems like 'Along the Road to Gundagai', a song that comforted Second World War soldiers and was later popularised by country music legend Slim Dusty. Even a famous poem like 'My Country', with its lines about drought and flooding rains, reflects the enduring imagery of a 'sunburnt country', tying Australia’s landscapes to national identity in literature and song. 

Looking forward 

Australia's regions stand on the frontlines of climate change, confronting harsher droughts, intense heatwaves and unpredictable rains that directly affect their farms, towns and landscapes. Unlike urban areas, which have more robust infrastructure, these areas depend heavily on the land and weather, making each climate shift a direct threat to their way of life and livelihood. The 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires illustrate this vulnerability, with unprecedented devastation as 19 million hectares of forest burned, thousands of homes were lost, and billions of native animals and livestock perished – a story vividly explored in the From the Embers podcast. 

In the wake of the fires, the regions across the country endured the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and then, as well, periods of intense flooding, demonstrating regional Australia’s susceptibility to compounded crises. Yet, the remarkable resilience has shone through. These regions showcase an extraordinary spirit of cooperation, with neighbours coming together to support one another and overcome adversity – something that often surpasses the sense of community found in urban areas. 

As we venture further into the 21st century, our regions are poised to become hubs of innovation, playing a crucial role in advancing solutions for water and food security, renewable energy and other key areas vital to Australia’s future prosperity. Their contributions will be essential as we navigate the challenges ahead and strive for a sustainable – and environmentally responsible – future. 

Dr John Milner completed his PhD at the ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics in 2017 and has published extensively on Australian art, history and culture. His work is used as a teaching resource in various institutions across Australia and internationally. He grew up in rural NSW and also manages a working property outside Braidwood. 

Wanting more? 

• Take a deep dive into two classic films shot in and around Broken Hill: Wake in Fright (1971) and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
• Climb aboard for a scenic journey through a century of Australian railway history
• Tour retro theme parks of regional NSW and see dinosaurs, dancing horses, replicas, tiny towns and more

Want to be the first to hear stories and news from the NFSA? 
Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss out.

Main image: Sunset view of countryside Gippsland in regional Victoria, 2024, iStock. Credit: Gavin Guan